The Legitimacy of the Christian Religion, 2 of 2 Treatises

By Pierce K. Kozlowski

Treatise on the Holy Trinity

Upon demonstrating the existence of God, wherefrom we determined the attributes rightly belonging to God, it is now necessary that we turn to the most holy Trinity, and the things belonging to the three persons in the Trinity. First, let us speak on what the aim of the second treatise is, and the nature of the arguments that will be made concerning the trinity.

First, given the great confusion concerning this particular doctrine as a whole, the argumentation of this treatise will be focused on addressing the many fallacies and purported contradictions which are often said against the trinity. In honoring the foregoing guidelines, I thereby make the aim of this treatise twofold: first, to show why believers have legitimate grounds for placing their belief in the most holy trinity; and second, to dispel the greatest misconceptions concerning the trinity.

Second, these arguments will be persuasive, not demonstrative. While reason can demonstrate the existence of God, only revelation can affirm the existence of the Trinity. This is true because men can reach the knowledge of God by understanding creation, just as they can reach a cause by understanding its effects. And while the effects of creation point to the unified essence of God, as we have shown, it does not account for the distinct persons in God. For this reason, the Saint concluded that “it is impossible to attain the knowledge of the trinity by natural reason” (25). Therefore, the knowledge of the trinity can only be attained by sacred scripture. As a result, this treatise will not demonstrate the existence of the Trinity but will presuppose it, since the doctrine of the trinity pertains to faith alone. For it is written, in Heb 11:1, that faith pertains to that which is unseen. Things unseen are above natural reason, and being both unseen and above reason, the trinity rightly belongs to faith.

4. The Word in Relation to God

With regard to the arguments that follow, we must first preface the three persons in God for the sake of the reader’s understanding: there is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, with “Son” referred to also as the “Word.” While there are three persons, there is only one true God. For while God is completely one, as previously shown (2.8), he exists eternally, and he does so within those three persons. Thus, there are not three gods, but three distinct persons who are unified in the one essence of God.

4.1 - THE WORD IS IN GOD

Before speaking of the Word in God, we must speak of God’s understanding. As said before, there is no potential in God since God’s essence is pure actuality (2.3), and therefore, God’s essence is his existence (2.8). The same is true of God’s understanding. There is the intellect and what the intellect desires to understand. Whatever the intellect does not actually understand, it contains the potential to understand. For as St. Aquinas says, when the intellect understands the object, the intellect goes from potentially understanding to actually understanding (26). Thus, just as there is no potential for movement in God, there is no potential for understanding in God. This is because God understands all things most perfectly, as previously shown (2.6), and by extension, there was never a time when God did not understand because he does so eternally. Therefore, in the same way that God is his existence, God is also his understanding.

Upon demonstrating the understanding of God, we now speak of the word in God. It is clear from the foregoing that God has always understood everything, perfectly so, and that he understands himself. Before proceeding, let us speak first on the intellect. When the mind understands something, the object of its understanding exists in the intellect of the one who understands, not as a material substance but as a conception (27). For example, by understanding the likeness and properties of fire, such things exist in the mind of the one who understands it, not materially but conceptually. In the same way, God is said to be in himself by the fact that he understands and has a conception of himself. Moreover, a thing that is understood is signified by a word, for as St. Aquinas says, “we signify by an external word what we internally understand in the intellect, since words are signs of things understood” (28). Therefore, since God understands himself, then he is in himself as something which is understood. Since things understood are signified by a word, then there is a “Word” in God. And since this “Word” signifies God’s understanding of himself, then the Word is God. For it is written, John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

4.2 - THE WORD OF GOD IS THE SON OF GOD

From what has been said, we must now introduce the terms active and passive with regard to the intellect and the intellect’s conception(s). The intellect is the active principle because it produces the conception, whereas the conception is passive because it is produced by the intellect. The intellect acts as a cause; the conception acts as the effect. Therefore, the intellect is a sort of father, with the conception that takes place as a sort of son. And as we said, since God is in himself as something understood, which is signified by a word, we speak of the Word in God (4.1). And because the intellect produces a conceived word as a father produces a conceived son, we speak about God’s Word to Himself in the same way as we speak about the Son to the Father. As St. Augustine writes, “the Son is referred to the Father . . . so also the Word is referred to him whose Word it is” (29). Therefore, right doctrine dictates that the Word is the same as the Son, for it is written, John 1:14, “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as the Son from the Father.” The Son was sent from the Father as the Word made manifest in the body of Christ. That is why, in the Christian religion, we declare our belief in “one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God” (30).

5. The Son in Relation to the Father

5.1 - THE SON PROCEEDED FROM THE FATHER

Let us first establish the procession in God, and then the nature of that procession. Firstly, as formerly explained, just as the conception of a word proceeds from the intellect, it is clear that the Son proceeds from the Father (4.2). For as Christ says in sacred doctrine, in John 8:42, “I proceeded forth and came from God.” Therefore, we say there is procession in God, from the Father to the Son. Secondly, as we have also shown, the Son is referred to as the “Word” in sacred doctrine. For as John Calvin says, the Son is the “eternal and essential Word of the Father” (31). The term “word” is used to show that the Son proceeded from the Father, not by carnal generation, but by intelligible generation. It cannot be carnal generation because carnality applies to that of physical substances, but we have shown that God himself is not physical (2.3), and thus, he is not carnal. As a result, there is no carnal generation in God, for “God is Spirit” (John 4:24). Furthermore, since God actually understands everything, he is his understanding. Therefore, God is in himself as something that is understood. And because understood things are signified by a word, we posit the Word in God. As a consequence, the Word of God is the same as the Son of God, for the intellect conceives of a word as a father conceives of a son. Therefore, it is said that the Son proceeded from the Father, and not as a child conceived by the parent, but as the conception of the Word conceived by the intellect. Thus, the procession and generation of the Son from the Father is not carnal, but intellectual.

5.2 - THE SON IS ETERNALLY BEGOTTEN OF THE FATHER

Concerning the next point, while the generation between the Father and Son is intelligible, it is not in any way temporal. God did not begin to understand himself or conceive of the Word in himself at a specific point in time; the Word was eternally in God, just as the Son was eternally with the Father. For as previously stated, perfect understanding belongs to God in the same way that eternity belongs to him (2.7). And as stated above, if God has eternally understood all things, then there is no potential for further understanding in him since he actually understands all things (4.1). Therefore, since God has always understood himself and is in himself as something which is understood – with his understanding being signified by the word – then the Word was always with God. Wherefore when Holy Writ says that “In the beginning, the Word was with God” (John 1:1), we take “In the beginning” to mean “from eternity,” signifying that the “Word was always with God,” which is to say that the “Son was always with the Father.” Therefore, the Son is generated from the Father not in a temporal sense, but in an eternal one. That is why, in the articles of faith, we say that the Son is “eternally begotten of the Father” (32).

In holding this creed, we do six things: First, we establish that there is a word in God called the “Word of God,” from which the Word proceeds from God. Second, we establish that the “Word of God” is the “Son of God,” for a word is the conception of the intellect just as a son is the conception of the father. Third, by signifying the Word (i.e., the Son) as an intellectual conception, we establish that the procession of the Son from the Father as intelligible generation. Fourth, by saying that the Son proceeded from the Father by intelligible generation, we exclude the possibility of carnal generation, for the Son was “begotten, not made.” Fifth, by saying the Son has always existed with the Father, we exclude the possibility of the Son being temporally generated, for the Son was “eternally begotten.” And lastly, in John 1:1, by saying the Word was always with God, meaning the Son was always with the Father, we profess that the Son is equal to the Father in divine essence. As John Calvin says, “the word was eternally begotten by God, and dwelled with him from everlasting. In this way, his true essence, his eternity, and divinity are established” (33).

5.3 - THE SON IS THE SAME SUBSTANCE OF THE FATHER

In the foregoing, we said that the Son possesses the same essence and perfection of the Father (5.2), and this can be shown in three ways. First, just as God is wholly perfect (2.2), so is the Word in God perfect. We know that God perfectly understands all things (2.6), and thus, he perfectly understands himself (4.1). And since “words” signify things understood, as was said earlier (4.1), we posit a “Word” in God as a sign of God’s perfect understanding of himself. As previously stated, things that are understood exist in the mind, not materially but conceptually. Since God has a perfect conception of himself, then the conception of that understanding is also perfect. Thus, the Word – which signifies God’s perfect conception of himself – does not differ in perfection to God, and it is the same thing to say that the Son does not differ in perfection to the Father. Saying this properly excludes any imperfection in the divine generation, for every perfection existing in the Father is transferred in equal measure to the Son. Since these two persons of the Trinity are equal in this way, the Creed includes the statement, “God from God” (34). For the Son was begotten of the Father from eternity, with neither person differing in the perfection of their form.

As for the second way, just as the Word proceeds from God, the Son proceeds from the Father. As we said before, the Word signifies God’s intellectually perfect conception of himself (4.1). However, the intellectual conception of something can fall short when realized in its physical manifestation or when applied to extraneous matter, as St. Aquinas says (35). For example, the builder may conceive of a building in his mind. Yet, the complicated admixture of elements can generate a physically less perfect form of the building compared to the more perfect form the builder had conceived of. To exclude this type of generation from the Holy Persons, the Holy Creed adds, “Light from Light” (36). For the Son proceeded from the Father by perfect generation, and thus, the former possesses all the perfections of the latter.

As for the third way, we have shown how the Son possesses the perfection of the Father by perfect generation. If the generation is intellectual rather than carnal (5.1), and eternal rather than temporal (5.2), we maintain both the necessary incorporeality (2.1) and eternity (2.7) of God’s nature, which we argued in the first treatise. We’ve also shown how this applies both to the Father and Son of the Trinity in the former sections of this second treatise. Now, we must consider this: a thing can bear a perfect likeness of another thing without truly sharing the same nature of it. For example, a stone sculpture may adopt the form of a man but its nature is still that of a stone, yet a man which has both the form and substance of a man obviously has the true nature of a man. For another example, when a man looks into a mirror, while he sees a perfect reflection of his likeness, there is certainly not another physical manifestation of himself with his same nature. This confusion has been wrongly applied to the Holy Persons, with some suggesting that the Father and Son are purely conceptual and not real, or that the Father and Son are real but do not share the same nature. To avoid this possibility, the Creed also says, “True God from True God” (37). For the Son is of the same nature as the Father, just as He is the same in both form and perfection to the Father.

Having said these things, the foregoing reveals that God the Father and God the Son are not different by form, time, or nature. By the intelligibility of their generation, the Son of God is shown to be the Word of God – so the Son signifies not carnality but intellection. By the eternity of their generation, the Son is eternally begotten of the Father – so the Son is not temporal, but eternal. By the perfection of their generation, the Son is of the same nature of the Father – so these two persons are not conceptual but real persons possessing the exact perfections of one another. It is for this reason, that in summary of everything that has been said on the Holy Trinity, the Creed concludes by saying that the Son is “of the same substance of the Father” (38).

6. The Holy Spirit in Relation to the Son and Father

6.1 - AS GOD UNDERSTANDS HIMSELF, SO GOD LOVES HIMSELF

Just as something understood exists in the mind of the one who understands, a thing which is loved exists in the mind of the one who loves. To show this, we must first speak of understanding and desire. First, the senses are used in perceiving sensible things, which is why sight is the most preferable of the senses – for we acquire the greatest knowledge of knowing from sight than from the other senses. Thus, knowledge is clearly an object of desire for creatures with sensory and intellectual capacity. And if using the senses to obtain knowledge is desirable, then much more desirable is using the rational intellect to obtain knowledge. For this reason, intellection directed toward understanding is a desirable activity. And if understanding small things is desirable, then understanding greater things is more desirable. If this is true, then God would be the most desirable to understand since he is the first principle of all things. For as St. Aquinas says, “Pleasure attends the activity of the thing that understands and desires the first principle” (39). We’ve established that God is intelligible for the reason that he understands himself (4.1) and he is the first principle by virtue of being the first cause (1.1). Consequently, if understanding first principles is a loveable activity, then God – the first principle – loves himself because he understands himself.

6.2 - THERE IS A SPIRIT IN GOD

Having shown that God loves himself, we move to the second point: we previously said God is in himself because he understands himself (4.1), and in the same way, God is in himself because he loves himself. To show this, let us speak of motion: just as something causes movement and moves something else, so it happens with the thing that is loved and the one who loves. For as St. Aquinas says, “the beloved object by an internal movement somehow moves the lover” (40). That is to say, moved by attraction. Understanding concerns having a conception of something in the intellect (understanding the appearance and properties of fire); loving concerns having an attraction between the one who loves and the one whose loved. In shorter terms, understanding concerns conception, loving concerns attraction. Therefore, we express that the Son of God – who is God’s Word – signifies how God understands himself. And likewise, we say that there is a spirit in God – who is God’s love – which signifies how God loves himself.

6.3 - THERE IS A HOLY SPIRIT IN GOD

Having shown that there is a spirit in God reflective of God’s love for himself, we speak of the end of love, which is goodness. If God is the highest good and he loves himself as we’ve said (6.1), then the love which is ordered to that highest good is inherently good in the purest sense. In the spiritual sense, we speak of pure goodness as that which is either without defect or firm in its perfection. To contain such perfection or to be void of such fault is to be holy. And for this reason, we call that which is purely and divinely good by the adjective “holy.” By extension, anything which is ordered to the highest good is good, and anything that is ordered to God is holy (e.g., church, sacraments…etc). The spirit – who signifies God’s love for himself – places in us that same love which orders us to the sweet adoration and proper worship of God. For this reason, we call the Spirit of God holy. Wherefore in the Christian religion, the creed says, “I believe in the Holy Spirit” (41).

6.4 - THE HOLY SPIRIT PROCEEDED FROM THE FATHER AND THE SON

As we’ve said before, the ability to understand belongs to the intellect’s capacity for such an activity. God has perfect understanding, and so he perfectly understands himself. Because he has a conception of himself, he is said to be in himself as something which is understood. This understanding is signified as God’s Word, who is the Son of God. The intellect conceives of an understood word as the father conceives of the son. For this reason, we say that the Son proceeded from the Father. However, the ability to love belongs both to the intellect of understanding a thing, and then the process of coming to love that thing in so far as it is attractive to the lover. Now, something which is intelligible is good, for the acquisition of knowledge from the intellect and senses is desirable – hence why sensible and rational creatures value things like eyesight or understanding. Since God is intelligible and since he understands himself, God also necessarily loves himself. By understanding, the Word of God is conceived as the Son. By attraction, the love of God is manifested as the Holy Spirit. And because the Holy Spirit came from God loving himself – which first arose from God understanding himself – then the Holy Spirit proceeded from the Father and the Son, as the Son did from the Father. For it is written, in John 15:26, “the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father.” Hence the Holy Creed says: “I believe in the Holy Spirit, Who proceeds from the Father and the Son” (42).

6.5 - THE DIVINE ESSENCE IS CONSISTENT WITH THE TRINITY

The activity of existing, understanding, and loving in God are different from us. For if we did not have further discussion, one could easily assert that they are in themselves as something loved and understood, and nonsensically call themselves a sort of “mortal trinity.” To avoid such an erroneous (and admittedly comical) error, we say that our activity of existing, loving, and understanding is not the same in us as it is in God. Human beings are a substance in their act of existing, but they are intellectual in the act of understanding and loving. In this sense, we are not truly unified in these three ways of being – of these three, human beings are only subsistent in their existence. This, however, is not so with God. God’s existence, God’s understanding, and God’s loving are the same thing for the reason that they are all subsistent. And it is these three subsistences in God that the designation of “persons” is given. For this reason, God is truly three persons in one essence. By extension of this fact, it is clear that positing three persons in God is not contradictory to his nature because this distinction is by relation only. For it is perfectly possible for the Son to proceed from the Father and to also be of the same substance of the Father as we have shown above, just as it is possible to maintain the procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father and Son.

7. OF EVERYTHING SAID SO FAR

7.1 - THAT THERE IS A TRINITY

Having said everything in this second treatise concerning the most blessed and Holy Trinity, we bring our exposition to a close with a review of everything we’ve said thus far: There are three persons who share one essence in God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. God has perfect understanding, and things understood are signified by words. God’s understanding is signified by his Word, for words proceed from the intellect as the son proceeds from a father. For this reason, we say that God’s word is the Son of God. Moreover, because God understands himself, and understanding is a lovable activity, God necessarily loves himself because he understands himself. God’s loving is signified by his spirit, first made possible by God’s understanding. For this reason, just as the Son proceeded from the Father, so the Holy Spirit proceeded from the Son. The Son, who is God’s word, shows how God understands himself; the Holy Spirit, who is God’s love, shows how God loves himself. By conception of the intellect, the Word of God is conceived as the Son from the Father; by attraction of the soul, the love of God is manifested as the Holy Spirit from the Son.

7.2 - IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, THE SON, AND THE HOLY SPIRIT. AMEN

And so it is said, there exist three persons in one essence. For at the dawn of time, all three persons had been present, beginning with the Spirit of God: for “the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters” (Gen 1:2). And it was through the Son that all things were made: “All things were created through him” (John 1:3). For the Father made all things through the Son, and it is the Son who is God’s Word: “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son” (John 1:14). And the divine persons had eternally dwelt from everlasting, always existing with one another: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). If the Son – God’s Word – proceeded from the Father, and the Holy Spirit from the Son, then the three persons had always been. Therefore, Holy Scripture testifies, Matt 28:19, “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” This completes the treatise concerning the most Holy Trinity, with reference to our most blessed Lord. Amen.

Catalog of Academic References

25. St. Thomas Aquinas. Summa Theologica, “The Knowledge of the Divine Persons.” P.1, Q. 32, pp.98

26. St. Thomas Aquinas. Compendium of Theology. “God is His Understanding.” pp.33

27. St. Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Aristotle’s Metaphysics, “The Perfection of the First Substance.” pp.807-808

28. St. Thomas Aquinas. Compendium of Theology. “How We Posit the Word in God.” pp.35 (see also Aristotle’s On Interpretation, Section. 1, Part. 1).

29. St. Augustine of Hippo. On the Trinity. Book. 6, Chapter. 2.

30. The Nicene Creed. (from the “Ancient Faith Study Bible,” 2019 by Holman Bible Publishers)

31. John Calvin. Institutes of the Christian Religion, “The Unity of the Divine Essence in Three Persons Taught in Scripture, from the Foundation of the World.” B.1, Ch.13, pp.71

32. The Nicene Creed. (from the “Ancient Faith Study Bible,” 2019 by Holman Bible Publishers)

33. John Calvin. Institutes of the Christian Religion, “The Unity of the Divine Essence in Three Persons Taught in Scripture, from the Foundation of the World.” B.1, Ch.13, pp.71

34. The Nicene Creed. (from the “Ancient Faith Study Bible,” 2019 by Holman Bible Publishers)

35. St. Thomas Aquinas. Compendium of Theology. “In God, the Word Does Not Differ by Time, Form, or Nature from the Father.” pp.37

36. The Nicene Creed. (from the “Ancient Faith Study Bible,” 2019 by Holman Bible Publishers)

37. The Nicene Creed. (from the “Ancient Faith Study Bible,” 2019 by Holman Bible Publishers)

38. The Nicene Creed. (from the “Ancient Faith Study Bible,” 2019 by Holman Bible Publishers)

39.St. Thomas Aquinas. Commentary on Aristotle’s Metaphysics, “The Perfection of the First Substance.” pp.806

40. St. Thomas Aquinas. Compendium of Theology. “God is in Himself as Beloved Object in the Lover.” pp.39

41. The Nicene Creed. (from the “Ancient Faith Study Bible,” 2019 by Holman Bible Publishers)

42. The Nicene Creed. (from the “Ancient Faith Study Bible,” 2019 by Holman Bible Publishers)